Malagasy language

Malagasy is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Most people in Madagascar speak it as a first language, as do some people of Malagasy descent elsewhere. The Malagasy language is the westernmost member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family, a grouping that includes languages from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In fact, Malagasy’s distinctiveness from nearby African languages had already been noted by early scholars, such as the Dutch scholar Adriaan Reland in 1708.